Increased risk of stroke in patients with bullous pemphigoid: a population-based follow-up study

Although previous research reveals that cardiovascular events and thromboembolic diseases are important causes of death in patients with bullous pemphigoid (BP), the risk of stroke after the diagnosis of BP relative to the general population remains unknown. Using a randomly selected nationwide population-based sample, this study investigates the risk of stroke in patients with BP compared with unaffected individuals of a similar age.

This study analyzes data from Taiwan's National Health Insurance Research Database. This sample included 390 patients with BP and 1950 matched subjects as a comparison group. Stratified Cox proportional hazard regressions were used to calculate the 3-year stroke risk for these 2 groups after adjusting for patient's age, sex, and comorbid medical disorders at baseline.

Of the 2340 patients in the sample, 312 patients (13.3%) had strokes during the 3-year follow-up period, 89 (22.8% of the patients with BP) in the study group and 223 (11.4% of patients without BP) in the comparison group (P<0.001). The hazard ratio for stroke for patients with BP was 2.37 (95% CI, 1.78 to 3.15; P<0.001) times as high that for patients without BP within the 3-year follow-up period after adjusting for hypertension, diabetes, hyperlipidemia, heart failure, atrial fibrillation, and coronary heart disease.

Patients with BP have an increased risk of stroke and particularly ischemic stroke.